Water Arbitration, Wynkoop R. Kiersted Gives Impartial Testimony.
Water Arbitration,
Wynkoop R. Kiersted Gives
Impartial Testimony.

WATER ARBITRATION.

Wynkoop R. Keirsted Gives
Impartial Testimony.

    Wynkoop R. Keirsted, the expert brought from Kansas City by the water company, and whom they depended upon to demonstrate to the city beyond peradventure the justice of their contentions, has not, to say the least, advanced the company's interests.
    At the opening of the morning session yesterday Mr. Keirsted again took the stand and said that he had collected his information from all parts of the country, and that the table of values of the water company's property, prepared by him was based upon many years' experience; but he admitted that it was modified somewhat, to fit the existing conditions here; meaning difference in soil, climate, cost of material, etc. Comparing the rates, he said they were equitable as compared with other cities, and they entered into his calculations in arriving at a value. But when asked if the conditions in any two cities of equal size, and charging the same rates, could not be such that the rates in one might constitute a loss and in the other a gain, the witness evidently did not care to answer the hypothetical question.
    Mr. Dunn, during the whole day's cross-examination of Mr. Keirsted, did not go outside of the witness's own figures, taken in connection with well-established facts, excepting now and then, when he was obliged to resort to presumptions to obtain a direct reply. The witness evaded the question as to whether the fact of the company's 320 miles of water pipe, being composed of two-inch gas pipe, constituted a first-class system, but he finally said that this kind of pipe was of a very inferior quality, and not of a permanent nature. Then the fact that the water company pays $100,000 annually to the Crystal Springs Company was another hard circumstance to reconcile with his theory of valuation in proportion to revenue, inasmuch as the directorate of the companies are practically the same. This is important, for this $100,000 is taken by him as a necessary expenditure, and depreciates materially the company's property values; and if the directors can pay any amount to themselves in another capacity for water it is not clear why the water plant's value cannot be cut down to zero. The witness made another admission when asked if he would not have gone behind the account book's statement if he was acting as agent for a proposed buyer. Mr. Dunn had a difficult time getting the witness to answer, but Mr. Keirsted finally said that he probably would investigate the matter in behalf of his client.
    Upon the whole, the city's attorneys have no cause to fear Mr. Keirsted's testimony, inasmuch as it would have been difficult for an outsider who did not know to determine which side had placed the witness on the stand.


Source:

Unknown, "Water Arbitration, Wynkoop R. Kiersted Gives Impartial Testimony," The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Wednesday, 8 February, 1899, p. 10.

Created March 17, 2006; Revised March 17, 2006
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